Marc McKnight is the bassist for the Metlacore juggernaut Atreyu. They are just finishing up a tour with Hollywood Undead and are fresh off the release of their most dynamic and colorful album, Congregation Of The Damned. He took a little time to talk to me about his new album, their current mini tour, and what it's like to play on the punk rock summer camp known as the Warped Tour. He also talks very frankly about his opinion of critics of his music as well as his musical influences as a young child and the "beef" between Atreyu and fellow Metalcore act Avenged Sevenfold.

What kind of music were you exposed to at a very young age?

A lot of Willie Nelson, a lot of Paul Simon, and mainly what my sister listened to. So I just kind of mimicked whatever she was into.

Were you a fan of country music growing up?

Well, being from the south didn’t mean I listened to a lot of country music. I’m not like a country dude and I don’t listen to a lot of country music outside of stuff like Johnny Cash or Willie Nelson. I’m sure growing up when I was in high school or whatever I was like “fuck country music, I don’t want to listen to Garth Brooks.” But I think anyone who listens to Johnny Cash is a fan of country music because it’s a different type of country, you know what I mean?

When did your first start playing music?

Uh, I picked up a guitar in like 6th grade. Wanted an electric, parents wouldn’t give it to me. Played that for a couple years and then started playing bass in like 8th grade. All I saw was Tom Morello and Billy Joe Armstrong from Green Day and that’s what I wanted to play, I didn’t want to play on an acoustic. But it pushed me to playing bass so I guess it worked out well in the end.

What was the first song you learned to play from beginning to end?

On bass it was Bush “Little Things” and on guitar…uh, that’d be like, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" or something pathetically easy.

What is currently on your I-Pod or in your CD player?

I really like the new Thrice and He Is Legend CDs. Um, the new Muse is amazing. Um, like I’m always listening to a lot of instrumental music like Explosions In the Sky and stuff like that when I’m working. Something in the heavier vein that I have been listening to lately..Slayer, the new Slayer is pretty good. And my record, I listen to our record a lot man I LOVE that fuckin record!

How did you hook up with the guys in Atreyu?

It was, I met them when I was playing with a band called Nightfall in Orange County. Us and a bunch of other bands went to Esperanza and played a bunch of shows and I met the dudes in Atreyu. I played a few shows with them, played three shows with Atreyu before I joined them. I just became friends with you know? And then I left Nightfall and they asked me to join them a couple days later.

How’s the tour with Hollywood Undead going?

Awesome man, we’re almost at the end of it though. We only have like ten more shows left. We have just been home wiring and recording so it’s just good to get out and tour consistently again. And the shows have been phenomenal. Like our bands have been meshing really well together, which I really wasn’t expecting. No offense to them (Hollywood Undead), I just didn’t know what I’d be getting myself into. But it’s turning out really well, the shows are good every night, they are really cool dudes, and, you know, it’s been fun.

Talk a little bit about being on the Warped Tour…

It’s pretty fun. I mean it’s like the punk rock summer camp that everyone says it is you know? Just a bunch of bands hanging out. I used to go watch Thrice a bunch. Some of the Smartpunk bands I liked was Yesterday’s Rising and Avery, I saw them a bunch of times. Underoath was amazing, Rufio was there for like three days, I watched them. There are just so many good fucking bands…

Are there any bands you’d like to get back on tour with again?I’d say Thrice, I’d really love to do another tour with those dudes. Um, Avenged Sevenfold, they’re fun to tour with.

Is there REALLY any heat between you guys and Avenged Sevenfold?

Well, I don’t really have the same sentiment towards that band because I wasn’t born and raised in the same area. I didn’t see the scene grow from the ground up. I think we’re all friends and any “grudges” or weirdness is just made up in the media, you know what I mean? Like, I mean we grew up in the same area and played similar kinds of music and grew up listening to the same shit and you know, they’re just a band like us.

How did you like playing in front of 35,000 people opening up for Iron Maiden?

It was cool man. It was weird cuz like, there were some people there that they didn’t want to see anyone BUT Iron Maiden. So out of like 35,000 people there were like 5,000 people that were like “Get off the stage you pu**ies!” and they were just pissed and throwing sh*t at us, but it was pretty fun. And I still get to say, at the end of the night that I played with Iron Maiden so it was pretty cool.

Do you have any tour stories?

Well there was this one girl in Miami that was just hammered out of her mind. And you know, semi-attractive, and she’s just HAMMERED, like sloppy drunk right? And she somehow makes her way on our bus. She wasn’t like at the show with us. She just wanted to see the bands, you know what I mean? So she got on our bus and we kept trying to pass her off to one of our friends or one of the crew members but she was like “NO, I WANT ONE OF THE BAND!” And she was just like riding people and stuff. So she goes in the back with someone…who shall remain nameless, and they were, you know, enjoying themselves in the back, but she had left her phone up front. So one of our friends took a picture of his balls and sent it to everyone on her contact list and said “Sorry, I’m busy being a nut!!” So yeah, that’s a pretty good story!What was the writing and recording process like for your latest album, Congregation Of The Damned?

Um, well we started writing for this album in like November of last year, so it’s been about a year ago now. So we started writing and we had like 13 or 14 songs and we were like, “shit”, like on A Death Grip On Yesterday we wanted 10 songs on the record so we wrote 10 songs. So it was like “What are we gonna do? Should we just keep going or what?” And it was like “Nah let’s just keep going and see what happens.” So we ended up with like 30 songs that were all amazing. I mean the well really never ran dry, but we just had to stop because we were like “This is getting ridiculous”. Widdled that down to 18 songs, met up with Bob Marlett, our producer, and did like pre-production stuff with him, widdled those down to 16 and uh, recorded 16 songs.

We did the drums in Henson Studios out in LA, which is like Jim Henson, like Muppets, which was amazing. And then we did the rest at Bob’s house in Woodland Hills. It was amazing, like as far as my bass, I did all the songs in 2 days I think. I just muscled through them, 10 songs one day and 6 the second. Then the guitars went and did all their things. There were some guitars done before I did all my stuff. Because I had to like, go back home for some family stuff and then two weeks later, they had some more guitars done. And it just really started like, I mean because in pre-production you have an idea of what it’s going to sound like, but you don’t really hear what it sounds like till everything is starting to get laid out.

So once I started to hear all the guitar parts being put down and the solos starting to be put in and like all of the vocal starting to get laid down, it was awesome. But we had just focused on the music in pre pro so then it’d be like Alex and Bandon sitting in the studio just shredding out the vocals. And they’re both like, their performances are absurd. Like Alex hasn’t written better lyrics and his performance is just amazing and he’s so genuine and “there”.

It seems like this album is the accumulation of your life’s work…

Well yeah, I mean it’s just because we HAVE been a band for 10 years and this IS our 5th record, and we like experimented a lot on the last record. There were a lot of things we learned about ourselves as a band and there were a lot of things we added to our arsenal and there were a lot of things that we were like “Ok let’s not do that again.” But we did it, you know? And I don’t regret doing it, any of it. Because it allowed our band to write THIS RECORD and anything up to writing this was worth it.

How do you allow yourself to change when you have so many fans on, especially the web that can be so critical of the music you make?

Yeah, I’ve been on Lambgoat, I’ve been on Blabbermouth, I’ve been on Absolute Punk, I’ve been on PRP. I’ve seen all that sh*t and I stay away from it because I’m not doing this. No offense to them because our fans got us to where we are, and without our fans, we’re f*cked, so I’m not saying we’re not doing it for them. But when we write music, we write music that we want to hear and that we love because we do it because we love it. You know what I mean? So if I started to write it for kids who only listen to The Curse and Suicide Notes, that want us to write that album again, who are we being fair to, you know what I mean? I’m not going to be 18 years old again; I’m not going to write that record again. I want to allow the band to expand and allow the band to grow.

Well Marc, I just wanted to say thanks again for your time and talking to us.

lunes, 2 de noviembre de 2009

When Atreyu left Victory Records at the end of 2006 to search for a major label, bright lights and success were forecasted for the five-piece post-hardcore band from Orange County, Calif.

The following year, Atreyu decided to sign with Hollywood Records and its major-label debut album Lead Sails Paper Anchor peaked at no. 8 on Billboard's Top 200, making it the most successful debut for the band, which formed in 1998.

However, many diehard fans of Atreyu were hesitant to follow the band into its new limelight because the sound was significantly different from the past.

The traditional screaming vocals of Alex Varkatzas became more of smoky grunts and the hardcore riffs were toned down to more of a "corporate rock" sound.

It seemed like the only thing that remained were the mind-blowing solos from lead guitarist "Big" Dan Jacobs and the harmonious choruses from drummer/vocalist Brandon Saller.

With the success, Atreyu went on tour with such bands as Avenged Sevenfold, Bullet For My Valentine and Blessthefall.

In the spring of this year, Varkatzas announced Atreyu would return with Congregation of the Damned, which was released Tuesday.

Earlier this month, Atreyu released two songs from the album to give a taste of what the CD would sound like.

The song "Stop! Before It's Too Late and We've Destroyed It All" garnered the support of the immense hardcore crowd that fallowed Atreyu for its screaming sound.

The second song "Storm To Pass" became the first single off the album and featured a more radio friendly sound and Varkatzas' singing vocals were cleaned up more than before and a very melodic chorus from Saller.

Varkatzas said the band wanted to return to its hardcore roots, but the CD would have the hard rock sounds from Lead Sails Paper Anchor mixed within.

The songs "Ravenous" and "Bleeding Is a Luxury" in addition to "Stop! Before It's Too Late and We've Destroyed It All" show the hardcore screaming side Atreyu grew to fame with having.

Despite the majority of the songs not having the screaming vocals of Varkatzas, only "Storm To Pass" sounds much like a song off Lead Sails Paper Anchor.

Varkatzas said the album would be the darkest and heaviest album for the band to date.

The songs "You Were the King, Now You're Unconscious," "Coffin Nails" and "Black Days Reign" back up Varkatzas' claim.

All three songs provide slow and intense head-knotting riffs, but strong sing-a-long choruses by Saller.

The album ends with a strong piano-laced acoustic ballad entitled "Wait For You," which shows the softer side of the band.

One thing for sure, whether you're a fan of the hardcore screaming side of Atreyu or the toned-down innovative side of the band, you will find an overwhelming for Congregation of the Damned.

For the fans of hard rock, metal or hardcore music, this CD is a must buy.

At the end of the year, will make a sincere case for the best hard rock/metal album the year.

This week Atreyu released their epic fifth studio album, Congregation of the Damned – which you really need to check out pronto, since it contains some of the band's darkest material since their 2004 record The Curse (which I thought was essentially a vampire-themed album, but apparently that's not entirely the case), and also represents the best and strongest of the band's decade-long creative arc. It's an ambitious, epic project with an undercurrent of doom running through it – a theme well represented by killer tracks like Gallows, Storm to Pass, Stop! Before It's Too Late and We've Destroyed it All – and owes a lot of its heavy sound to the production skills of Bob Marlette, whose client list includes the likes of Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath and Slayer.

Atreyu guitarist Travis Miguel was gracious enough to take a break from the band's ongoing fall tour with Hollywood Undead (about whom you'll be hearing more on these pages very soon) to chat with us about the new record, their childhood fears, and their shared love of horror flicks and games – definitely great ways to pass the time on the road. Check out the interview below the jump!

FEARnet: Thanks for taking time out to chat with us... I know you're in the thick of touring right now. How are you guys getting along with the Undead?

TRAVIS: Touring with Hollywood Undead has been great. They're a bunch of characters... I think I lost a few hundred bucks playing C-Lo with them!

I see you're all playing in Philly on Halloween night... any big plans for the holiday?

We don't really have any elaborate plans for Halloween, really... we'll probably get some half-rate cheesy costumes earlier that day, have a few drinks, and rock out. We have to cross the border into Canada later that night, so we have to be on our best behavior.

Congratulations on the release of Congregation. I was really impressed by how menacing the new material sounds... what led you down that darker path?

It wasn't really a conscious decision to go darker and heavier, it just kinda happened. In a way, we reflected on our entire body of work and put it all into one album... an all-encompassing Atreyu album, if you will.

It really feels like it. How much did influence did producer Bob Marlette have on that heavier, darker sound?

Bob was integral in making this album sound the way it does.

What was it like working with Bob?

[He] understands where we come from and what we wanted to achieve... he wasn't concerned with kissing our asses, promising to make us huge rock stars with a platinum record. He understood our odd, left-of-center sense of humor, which made it very comfortable to work with him. His main concern was deciding what was best for the particular song at hand. Some producers may only work with drums and vocals or some may work strictly with the preproduction; some producers don't work on albums at all and just slap their name on the final product. This wasn't the case with Bob: he was right there with us every day, manning the boards and getting his hands dirty.

It seems like the last time your music went this dark was in The Curse, and that one seemed to have a kind of vampire concept going through some of it... did [frontman] Alex Varkatzas also come up with a theme tying this new material together?

Even though there is some cohesive subject matter in Alex's lyrics, there isn't a specific theme going on with Congregation, really.... as far as The Curse goes, I think people looked way too deep into the imagery and assumed there was some kind of vampire concept album...

Ah, I guess I made the same mistake there.

But as far as themes go, each song on the record is independent from each other.

I got the idea that the title refers to modern society as a whole, marching blindly toward certain doom.

[It's] basically a broad view or outlook on humanity as a whole. We, as the human race, could use a little work... actually we could probably use a LOT of work.

Some of the songs seem to suggest we've already gone past the point of no return. Would you say that's true and we're all doomed, or is this more of a wake-up call?

There's always room for improvement, and I don't think all hope is gone... but, I'm afraid if we keep going at the same rate we currently are, there WILL be a point-of-no-return situation... which is fucking frightening.

You're absolutely right. Speaking of which, what would you consider your biggest fear?

Oddly enough, I have a phobia of blood. I can't get blood drawn without feeling like I'm gonna faint... I'm a big pussy.

How do you feel about blood on the screen? Are you guys big horror fans?

We all have soft spots in our hearts for horror movies. I've always been a big fan of the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I saw it for the first time when I was about 8 or 9 years old, so even to this day when I see it, it brings me back to being super-young and impressionable... and being scared senseless.

I'm guessing your tastes run more to old-school horror flicks.

I'm definitely more of a fan of the old-school stuff... mostly because, again, I saw all of those movies when I was young and they freaked me out. Every night, I had to make the dreaded trek down the long dark hallway to my bedroom. I'd always make a mad dash into my bedroom and turn the light on as quickly as I could because I was afraid something was going to grab me.

I thought your "Metalhead Zombies" online shooter was a cool promotional idea... I take it you guys are into video games in general?

All of us in our camp play video games... some more than others. When I'm 70 years old, I'm pretty sure I'll still be playing video games. The "Metalhead Zombies" thing was just something fun for the fans to get into. Who doesn't like shooting up zombies?

Absolutely. So that game is more or less based on Call of Duty... was that a favorite of yours?

Personally, I never really got into Call of Duty... mostly because I totally suck. But both our bass player, Marc and myself have been playing Uncharted 2 on a regular basis on the bus. It comes in handy on tour when you're bored out of your mind!

You can play “Metalhead Zombies” yourself and watch a series of webisodes from the making ofCongregation of the Damned on the band's official site or MySpace ... and be sure to get your hands on the album itself, which is out in stores and on iTunes right now.